Hey all - I'm new here. Been a fringe player forever, but have finally landed a mopar machine, and am trying to bring the 'ol gal to life....

Long story short, I've stepped RIGHT INTO THE MIDDLE of a hot mess project. This thing is so crazy cool - but not one thing is finished. I'm in WAY over my head....and really need some help if I'm going to see this one back to the pavement.

1934 Plymouth sedan, with loads of cool stuff already started. Z'd fram front and back, chopped and channeled body, IFS front end, four-wheel disc brakes, air bags at every corner, and a big block 440 with a 727 torqueflite tranny feeding a four-link rear end. Yeah - super cool stuff going on here.

Problem is - NONE of it is finished. Nothing. Body isn't finished, fuel system needs plumbed, brakes need wrapped up, cooling system is missing pieces, steering isn't hooked up - so yeah, she's going to keep me busy.

I'm starting with a carb question....

She's currently outfitted with what I believe to be a '76 440cid with a cast crank. Bone stock other than the headers and Offenhauser tunnel ram intake. There are no carbs, however.....and that's my first question. Which carb setup would you recommend? Something on the small side, because there will be two of them. Maybe a 450cfm carb X 2? The Quick Fuel Slayer or something?

I've never owned anything this radical, so I have no idea about how to set these things. Honestly, I've given thought to yanking the tunnel ram in favor of a simpler 4-bbl manifold, at least just to get it running and moving. Haven't ruled that out yet either, but I don't want to have to buy a new intake and a 750 cfm carb, only to find she runs fine then turn around and need a pair of 450cfm carbs to put the big radical tunnel ram back in place. Does any of that make sense?

What would you all do?

I'll post a few pics, to show up what I'm up against......and I'm being serious about needing all the help I can get. This thing is more than I've EVER tackled before...and I'm nervous!

Pics coming up....

Here are a few more pics of the engine....

can't help on the carb issue, but that looks like a COOL!! project

Hey 6 - thanks for the nice words. Hopefully it won't live here unfinished for way too long, only to be shuffled down the road to another guy's place - all because I'm unqualified to move it to the next step...fingers crossed!

Before you get too carried away with the tunnel ram set up have you found carb linkage etc. to make this thing work? With a stock build I think I would go with a single 4bbl. The tunnel ran and 2 carbs maybe way to much for a stock engine unless you use very small carbs. But tunnel ram 2 and 4s does look cool on an old rod..

Right on - I totally hear you...

Without doing ANYTHING else to the engine - NOTHING - I think I'm going to swap to a high-rise dual-plane single-4bbl intake. I think it will make my life TONS smoother, not having to mess with linkages, carb settings, etc....at least right out of the gates. Someday, maybe - but for now there are plenty of other things that need to be addressed. Like steering, for example. Be really nice to be able to steer this beast! At some point in the future, perhaps I'll yank the single 4bbl, toss in a cam and church the heads a bit, then come back to the tunnel ram. Just for simplicity's sake at this point.

According to my calculations (thank you Google!) my carb needs to be in the neighborhood of a 650cfm - does that sound right to you?

(440cid X 6000 RPM redline X 85% efficiency as a street/driver vehicle) / 3456 = 650 CFM.

Does that sound reasonable? For a stock 440 with nothing other than an intake and some headers?

I'm looking at this carb, because it gets great reviews, has vacuum secondaries, and isn't stupid expensive:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-m08750vs/reviews

Anybody have any experience with this guy? What do you know about it? Would you have me start elsewhere?

And what about intake manifolds? I have access to a new(er) Offenhauser dual-plane high rise...so I thought I'd start there. Think that's too much for a bone-stock 440?


I'm all ears.....

BB Mopar with stock heads love all the air and fuel you can give to them at WOT Been there done that a lot at the track and one the streets terrorizing the other brands
On your deal I would buy those carbs and the mechanical linkage kit for the tunnel ram that hooks up both carbs in line, not sideways, to work as one, no progressive linkage on tunnel rams Be prepared for a lot of tire spin once you get to driving that rascal Be safe mainly
People, even on here, tend to forget that the right foot control how much air and fuel the carbs allow into the motor, correct
I have a couple of old tunnel ram intakes and carbs, one set of Holley List 3 1850 vacuum secondary, one set of Holley 1000 CFM double pumper with annular boosters(I'm going to have them changed to standard boosters some day ) and one set of Holley List #9375 non HP 1050 CFM Dominator that where designed for tunnel rams. I've raced and won with Mopars cars since 1964 at the tracks, every Mopar V8 motor I've played with at the races liked more air and fuel to go faster

Great for racing but not so good for a streetable driver like he is putting together.

Have you ever driven one on the street tuned up properly for street driving?
If not maybe you should

The smallest Holley 4 barrels you can find - with vacuum secondaries. I may be mistaken but I thought they made 350 cfms. They definitely make 450's.

Since its a rod you could also consider a couple carb adapters and put two 2-barrels on there. Holleys OR a couple Strombergs !! Even two single Strombergs.

welcome here, and i REALLY like your project !

Thanks for all the kind words; I can't take credit for any part of this project as of yet. All I've done is back it off of the trailer right into the garage!

As far as carbs are concerned....one gentleman suggested that I buy the 600 CFM version of the summit carb, then later if I'm feeling frisky, I could purchase another 600CFM Summit carb and mount both on the tunnel ram.

Would that be too much carb? The pair of 600CFM carbs? Would a single 600 CFM be enough carb to run by itself? I seem to be in a catch-22 here.....one carb is too small, two would be too big.

Just trying to make my dollar go as far as possible. I don't want to buy a 750 cfm, then in six months or a year be shopping for a pair of smaller carbs. Guess I'm a tightwad and don't like buying more than I need.

Perhaps I'll stick with the 750 for now....just keep things simple.

Think the high-rise dual-plane manifold is a good place to start? I can get a hold of that one relatively quickly and it's affordable.

If you aren't ready to spend big bucks then the single 4bbl would be a good place to start and you could always sell it later to get the tunnel ram up and going. The kiss principal is always the best way to go on a project as big as yours.

If it's a stone stock cast crank 440 and this is just a bucks down exercise to make it self propelled, get a stock iron intake and bolt on whatever 4 barrel carb you have in stock. That will get it making vroom vroom noises for little to no money and the stock intake is more than capable of feeding those heads with a stock cam.

Then you can shop around for a pair of carburetors and linkage for the tunnel ram. Lots of deals to be had on 500 or 600 cfm Edelbrocks and there is no such thing as too much carburetor.

Kevin

If it was me I would do it once, buy the two carbs you like and start off with them to begin with, screw changing it later
That car will be fairly light weight and scoot with any 440 motor in it that is halfway decent, go for the bling on the first impressions now

Yes 2 small 4bbl carbs are the ticket.Keep in mind for example the dual quad set up package from Edelbrock for the Ford 289/302 recommends 2 500cfm carbs. Personally I would run 2 Edelbrock 500s. I have run them on low rise dual plane 440s and the same carbs on an M1 tunnel rammed 440. They work. I have zero experience with the small Holleys but plenty of testimonials that they work as well.

500 cfm Carterbrocks These are the ones that Edlebrock sells for dual quad applications so the the jets and metering rods are sized correctly. That looks like a badass project

Well crap.

Now you guys have me second-guessing my decision to just toss on a 4bbl and yank the tunnel ram.

The 500cfm carbs aren't cheap, but seem to get some killer reviews. I'm an Edelbrock fan, and have had nothing but smooth sailing with them - but I've only used them on small block applications, and never with anything as monstrous as a tunnel rammed big block.

They're roughly $800 for the pair - not including linkages. They'd be expensive - but if I didn't have to buy another 4bbl intake and carb, would prob be a wash. Does that make sense?

Of course, if I buy the two carbs and CAN'T get the tunnel ram to work, now I'm in REALLY deep. Haha. Tough to make a good decision.

I'd prob be better off to do what I know, which is a single 4bbl. Pull the tunnel ram, swap into a new Summit 4bbl, and move on - at least for the time being.

tunnel rams are pretty street friendly if set up correctly.
but as is almost always the case, you need to be able to tune.
thermoquads used to be despised by me until i actually took the time to tinker with them to make them work.
no more effort than you tinkering with the tunnel ram.
my opinion is to leave it there, acquire a couple of carbs, and go to town.

The tunnel ram intakes are not hard to tune carbs on
Buy the other carb like you have and the linkage needed to run them one to one and set the idle mixture and idle speed with the motor warm up and go drive it You'll love it once you drive it, there is no magic to tuning carbs, one, two or three
Actually the tunnel ram carbs mounted in line are way easier to tune than with them mounted sideways like most Holley D.P carbs have to be mounted on the tunnel ram intakes
As far as all those advocating small carbs on a tunnel ram intake are not some one who has taken the time to tune the bigger carbs for a tunnel ram, if you want tire smoking power put the bigger ones on now
Having two carbs let the motor breath easier and makes the fuel distribution better, especially at WOT
Four cylinders breathing through a four barrel carb